Forest fire protection in Poland and Europe

Causes of fire in forests are divided into natural human lightning, with a very small percentage started by spontaneous combustion of dry fuel such as sawdust and leaves. smoking, recreation, equipment, and miscellaneous

Animals and plants up against fires Most of wild animals rescue themselves by running away when they start to sense the smell of smoke. Herbivore mammals run away, and those animals which live in holes just hide. Plants deal better with flames - sometimes they don't die, even if the fire damaged their leaves.

In the areas of Mediterranean Forests fires are very often, especially after long peroids of drought. Leaves and wood are very flammable and flames can spread on many acres of land in a few hours. Those fires are dangerous for people and their houses but for bushes they aren't harmful.

ITALY AND SPAIN - Surveillance by infrared detectors Spain uses a fire simulator called CARDIN which a prediction system that simulates the fire behaviour with a digital image in raster format.  Fire prediction systems  Information necessary to forecast fire behaviour over time:  − Different input parameters: vegetation maps,  topography, wind  − Local fire spread or fire behaviour model − A fire is started at a given point and the fire  spread is observed. 

EFFIS (the European Forest Fire Information System) is a national monitoring system that provides the European Commission and the European Parliament with up to date information on wildland fires throughout Europe.

Water resevoirs are large water bodies, natural (lakes) or artificial (water reservoirs). They must be arranged locally to allow the operation of fire engines on the ground.

A mixture of species reduces the sensitivity of a forest to fire. The strips along public roads are cleared of vegetation to secure transit and avoid the start of a fire. The presence of a single layer tree, isolated from the ground, without intermediate layers, avoids the spread of fire from the surface to the crown layer.

Sources https://pixabay.com/ obrazy http://www.borealforest.org/world/innova/forest_fire.htm http://ec.europa.eu/echo/what-we-do/civil-protection/forest-fires_en http://emergency.copernicus.eu/

Aleksandra Szczepańska Marta Łabędzka Katarzyna Dynek Klasa 3c Gimnazjum nr 164 im „Polskich Olimpijczyków” w Warszawa